Technical Release Manager

Zipline•South San Francisco, CA

5d•$124,000 - $186,000

About The Position

Zipline’s System Validation team ensures the software and hardware powering our autonomous delivery system operate safely, reliably, and as intended in the real world. As a Technical Release Manager, you will define and own the process for releasing software, hardware, and integrated systems into commercial operations. You will align release scope and readiness, connect the teams responsible for building, validating, deploying, and operating each release, and drive execution through validation, sign-off, and deployment. This role combines hands-on release management with technical program management. During releases, you will bring structure to ambiguity, surface risk early, establish clear ownership, and drive complex issues to conclusion. Beyond recurring releases, you will lead cross-functional projects that improve release efficiency and precision.

Requirements

A bachelor’s or master’s degree in systems engineering, computer science, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.
3+ years of experience as a Technical Program Manager, Release Manager, Systems Engineer, or in a related role.
Experience in aerospace, autonomous vehicles, robotics, or other safety-critical, hardware-software systems.
Working knowledge of software configuration, change, and release management, including version control, branch strategy, traceability, and compatibility management.
Familiarity with the systems engineering concepts, including verification and validation, safety and risk assessment, requirement to test traceability.
Technical fluency across complex hardware-software systems, with the ability to ask pointed questions, evaluate dependencies, and facilitate technical tradeoffs.
Demonstrated ability to lead highly specialized domain experts, facilitate technical and nontechnical discussions, and drive decisions without direct authority.
Proactive risk identification and sound judgment in fast-moving environments with incomplete information, shifting priorities, and competing constraints.
Excellent written and verbal communication, including the ability to translate technical status and risk for engineering, operations, and leadership audiences.
Experience using project, requirements, change, and configuration-management tools to maintain traceability, communicate decisions, and drive execution.

Responsibilities

Own the end-to-end release process across a portfolio of software and system releases, aligning scope, content, configuration, schedule, validation, risks, and readiness from planning through sign-off and deployment.
Be the expert on release content and configuration, including release-defining changes, hardware and software compatibility, cross-system dependencies, and the downstream impact of changes.
Coordinate release activities across component teams and downstream consumers, aligning dependencies and incremental work with release milestones to improve consistency and predictability.
Assess release readiness, anticipate risk, and work across teams to develop mitigation strategies. Ensure validation evidence, release blockers, exceptions, dependencies, and required decisions are understood and resolved before each release gate.
Lead cross-functional release forums, driving clear decisions, ownership, and accountability.
Proactively identify and own technical projects that resolve major inefficiencies and/or gaps in the release process.
Improve release metrics, dashboards, and supporting tools, providing engineering, operations, and leadership with accurate, data-backed assessments of release health.